A Tree in Full Bloom
by pinklettuceleaf
Summary: My character Kakuro, love story tragedy. I dont own furuba, ks?
1. Prologue, Precious memories

They say that when a person dies their life flashes before their eyes, for me I wonder which part will be shown; my childhood, my graduation, my marriage, my father's death? These were all the images that I had expected to see, memories that I both treasure and abhor, however what I did not expect to remember was you. My husband must have wondered why I smiled as I was about to die, what sudden courage I had brought forward to challenge my death. Yet that was not the thing that made me smile, it was the precious memories that had been buried deep down, memories that the one who erased them probably never expected me to find. The recollection of the most valued and yet most painful part of my life came to me, one that I at the time had not wished to remember ever. But now I welcome my past, the years when I first fell in love, when the cherry blossom tree first showed me its true beauty. The years when I met you, Kyou.


	2. 1, Amber Eyes

When Kyou and I first met we were both 16, in our first year at high school. I had joined the school with my best friends Touru, Uotani and Hanajima, but it wasn't until later that Kyou joined the school. It was our first day of school when almost the entire female population of the school joined the "Prince Yuki Club", and then pressurised the rest to do so, or to abide by their rules. Therefore we had never exchanged many words with Kyou's cousin, Yuki Souma, before Touru went to live with his family. As a result by the time Kyou had joined the school we had still little acquaintance with his cousin, therefore it was permitted for us to talk to Kyou in Yuki's presence.

As for Touru's living with the Souma family, it had not come as much of a surprise to me. I had known that she wasn't living at her grandfather's like she said, for I when I rung the house I was informed that a Touru Honda didn't live there at the time, however I would be rung back when she moved back in. But I also knew that she wouldn't feel able to land herself on others, so I never spoke of it. I was not as protective as Uo and Hana were, as far as I was concerned people could do as they please and be offered help if needed, and to me not mentioning this to either of our friends was helping Touru. Anyway, I had also noticed that "Prince" Yuki hung around Touru far more than he would have usually done, and that she talked to him in a friendly manner. I think that she knew I was aware of her situation, but it was an unspoken agreement between us.

Before the others had discovered that Touru had not been at her Grandfather's, another Souma joined the school. I had heard the rumours about him all morning, his name was Kyou Souma, Yuki's cousin, he had bright orange hair, he was rude to everyone, he was vile, he had yelled at the teacher during English, he didn't want to be here, and he was the exact opposite of his cousin. However despite all the things we heard Touru still insisted that Kyou was nice, I thought he was a bastard before I met him.

When I went into the classroom for lunch there was a big crowd around the window; Touru, Yuki, Uo and Hana were in the corner. Touru looked worried, Yuki annoyed. As I walked towards them someone grabbed my arm,

"Did you just see that? It was amazing!"

"Just like a cat!"

Others were saying the same thing to each other as I passed. Finally I got to where my friends were, the classroom was so full.

"Yo guys, what happened?"

"Er.. Kyou-san jumped out the window!" replied Touru.

I could see Yuki flinch in the corner of my eye.

"The new kid flipped and went out the window", Uo said at the same time.

When she said this Yuki suddenly ran out the room.

"Huh? What's up with him?" I asked.

"I don't know. I'll go find out" Touru turned and followed Yuki out of the classroom.

"Like I said before, Kyou emits strange waves, just like Yuki."

"Eh? Hana-chan?"

Hana hadn't heard me; she had gone out the room. After a while everyone filtered out of the room, the last being the girl who I had been told that Kyou hurt. Yet I stayed by the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of this celebrated orange headed boy. I waited for a long time; first I saw Yuki run past, and then Touru but neither of them saw me; I wondered what they were up to. I stood and wondered what to do, then I suddenly noticed that Touru was running back, she was crying. As I was turning to find her I saw something move, someone else was walking by. The person was quite tall and wearing boys school uniform, he had bright orange hair. I remember standing rooted to the spot as he passed, how he sensed my observing him and glared at me while he headed for the gate. Glared at me with his deep, amber eyes.


	3. 2, Budding Happiness

I searched for Touru everywhere, but I couldn't find her. I knew that she was upset and it irked me that I couldn't help. It was that Kyou's fault, I just knew it! I wanted to go tell him what I thought of him, but Touru was my main priority. I punched the wall in the girls' locker room in my fury, why had I stayed to catch a glimpse of Kyou? And why had I felt so strange when he glared at me? It was so confusing. After pondering this for a while I returned. By the time I had reached to the classroom Touru was there, she seemed to be happy now but she still looked a bit emotional. I smiled and sat down to chat with them all, it would be forgotten in time.

However one thing I could not forget was Kyou. Touru denied that he had done anything wrong, but I could see that something had affected her that day. She had recovered by the next morning but I could not warm to Kyou no matter how hard I tried. I had managed to avoid him until lunch, and I was given the feeling that he was steering clear of me as well, for I had not bumped into him once. But at lunch time when I tried to slip out of the classroom Touru grabbed my arm.

"Let's play cards! Dai Hin Min would be perfect! Don't you think?" she asked.

I looked at the others; they all seemed to like the idea. Looking around I saw Kyou looking at me, his gaze startled me for a moment before I glared back. I tried to refuse but the others had me cornered now and Touru had started dealing, I had to play.

"OK I'd love to." I replied. It was great that I could play with my friends but I was inwardly seething at the thought of playing with Kyou. When I had announced this however Kyou made to leave, I bristled, did he hate me that much?

"Oy you! Leaving so soon?" I challenged.

"Go ask that damn Yuki to play!" he yelled back. "I'm leaving""

"Yuki's not here" replied Hana quietly.

Uo noticed my anger, "You really are out of the loop aren't you? And probably dumb too. Oh well, I was looking forward to creaming you. But if you are just going to run away like a coward, I guess I'll have to-" she winked at me from across the room. I laughed, Kyou flinched.

"Fine I'll accept your challenge! Just don't start crying when you lose Yankee." He hissed.

As we played I noticed how happy everyone was, this hadn't happened often since Kyoko had died and it was nice. I looked at Hana, Tohru and Uo, they were all laughing and all the guys were teasing Kyou. I found myself laughing with them, but I did not allow myself to be led astray. Kyou sent me a suffering look, making me double up involuntarily.

"WHAT?" he yelled at me

"Nothing.. I was just imagining you cleaning the classroom after you lose."

"Who says I'll lose?"

"I do!" I retorted. "and I'll be looking forward to it!"

Touru coughed nervously..

"WHAT?" asked Kyou.

"It's your go" she replied nervously.

"Oh, OK" he drew the next card. His face fell. We all crowded round to catch a glimpse of his card.

"OOOOH! Kyon-Kyon lost!" exclaimed a guy behind him.

"AND?" he roared.

Uo passed him a mop.

"Have fun cleaning.." she chuckled.

I left the room, shooting him one last glare. I then made sure that I didn't see him again that day.

For the next few weeks I didn't see much of Kyou. In fact I hadn't seen anyone, I was a keen actress and so had a club for almost every lunchtime- and sometimes after school. I was in two plays already, acting and designing sets, so I had no time to meet up with friends. One of our classes I particularly enjoyed, it was a show dance class that I was required to take for one of my performances. Our instructor was really nice, and she had an assistant with whom I got on really well. The assistant's name was Kuroumo, and after inquiring after her surname I was surprised to discover that she was related to Yuki and Kyou. This did not affect our relationship at all- I had told her of my feelings for her cousin and she laughed,

"My cousin is not the easiest of people to get along with"

I learnt a lot from Ku in the few lessons at which she had been present, she was an excellent dancer (and I thought that she was better than the instructor herself!) but after having taught four lessons she had to return to her home as she had business to attend to. Show dance was a lot worse after that but I stuck to it, Ku said that she would come back to teaching it soon, and maybe help with my plays.

After I got home from a rehearsal one night I was puzzled to find a note left for me. My parents were often out, and my dad worked abroad most of the time but they never left a note. I lent over to read it; it was from Touru's Grandpa. I gasped in surprise and looked for the phone. I pressed the dial button but then remembered that Touru hadn't given me a contact number. Though I had had a suspicion that Touru wasn't at her Grandpa's anymore I hadn't realised that he didn't know where she was, or that he thought that she was staying with me. I resolved to tell Touru the next morning and went to bed, but before I could ponder the matter I fell asleep, I was so tired.

That morning when I got up to go to school I caught sight of the note again, I picked it up in my mad dash to get to school and reread it. I had to remember to tell Touru. I got into school late so I could not see Touru until lunch, and then I only had five minutes before my drama club. I caught a glimpse of Touru in the corridor and ran after her.

"Touru!"

"Eh?" Touru turned and saw me "oh hi Kakuro! What do you want?"

I passed her the note, and while she read it I watched her face to see her reaction.

"when was this?" she asked me.

"Basically your Grandpa rang last night while I was at dance, my brother wrote this for me for when I got back"

"Oh.."

"He says the remodelling is finished and that you wouldn't need to stay with me any longer, and he is sorry for the inconvenience."

"Oh, listen Kakuro, I'm so sorry… I should have told you."

"Don't worry, ring him from wherever you are staying and sort it out. Im happy to cover for you."

"Thank you! But please don't mention this to Hana or Uo."

"OK ill try." I smiled at Touru, glad it was OK. But she didn't smile back, which was extremely unusual for Touru.

"Touru? Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Erm, no don't worry about me. I'm ok." With that she turned and walked slowly down the corridor. I watched her go, worrying about her sudden unhappiness. I turned and went to my drama class, still pondering Touru's behaviour. I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice Kyou passing, or the strange look he gave me. I also was oblivious to the fact that that outside, on the cherry tree small buds were beginning to grow.


	4. 3, Sakura Sky

The next morning Touru told the others what had happened. I found Hana and Arisa's reactions quite funny, I hadn't known the truth but I understood why Touru hadn't told us. When Uo and Hana reacted weirdly about it I stepped in,

"Don't worry Touru; you don't have to tell us everything. As long as you were OK, but next time tell us and your grandpa, alright? We may not be able to sort out everything but we can try, and im sure your Grandpa would have sorted out something."

"But I didn't want to worry anyone; I'm fed up of being a burden." Touru bowed her head.

Hana came to the rescue,

"OK, we accept that you are fine staying with the Souma's, but you do realize we're going to have to come over."

I stared at her, WTF?

Touru looked a little confused; "Eh?" she managed to say while Hana and Arisa told her that we would all be coming for an inspection that weekend, but Touru seemed to be a little worried about something. It seemed like a good idea, but then I remembered my day shift at the café that weekend.

"Er, guys, sounds great to me but I have to work at the café this Sat. If _Touru _and the _Soumas" _I said, putting stress on their names to make them realise it wasn't their decision. "Agree that you can come over then have fun! Don't beat them up too much! Im sure they are all treating Touru fine. Now I have to go to my Spanish lesson, Adios mis amigas!" I left them in the grounds, feeling a bit sorry for poor Touru, and the poor Souma family.

I was secretly glad that I couldn't go over to the Souma's house because I was still avoiding Kyou, I no longer hated him but there was something about his eyes that.. disturbed me almost. I had a sense that he realised I was avoiding him; all the little things I did to make sure I didn't have to talk to him were noticeable. I was beginning to feel guilty about it and especially the time in biology when we were paired for experiments. We had to do dissect a fish and he had made to pair with me when I shoved Kurina, who had been standing near me, at him and gone with some random guy, he had then had to put up with half an hour of Kurina waving the fish in his face saying "It's going to eat your toes!" in a scary way. I had felt so sorry for him, and sent him a sheepish look across the room. He just looked back at me with that same piercing stare.

However it was soon the Culture Festival, and our class was doing an onigiri stall. I helped him to build the stall; we were all teasing him about the cats that had come to him the day before when he was angry. I felt able to join in with the teasing, laughing along with the rest of the class. Kyou seemed almost relaxed for him; I decided it was because Yuki was nowhere near. I noticed how much he had changed since he had first arrived at the school; his eyes looked less troubled, he stood straighter, he smiled more. I saw physical changes too, he had grown, as had his hair, his face was more defined, his voice had deepened slightly; overall he seemed more at ease with everything though he was still quick to anger. As I stared I wondered what had brought about this change when I noticed him looking at me too, I blushed and looked away. He was about to speak when some older girls appeared behind us.

"Yuki-kun" said one. "We have a present for you! We all pitched in to buy it hoping you would wear it at the festival."

As she spoke the girl next to her brought out the most beautiful dress I had ever seen, Yuki's eyes widened and he flinched. I felt so sorry for him. Next to me Kyou flinched as well, but then his eyes filled with mirth and he turned away. I looked at him once more and left, I had been mistaken to compliment him.

I could say that the festival went by without incident, but I would be wrong. The classroom was really busy because of the attraction of poor Yuki, who looked like he was having a horrible time. Everyone was remarking at how cute he was, and I have to admit that I had felt the same, but I had seen the pain in Yuki's eyes. Then there was the arrival of some other members of the Souma family, who I watched with interest because the family was home to some both extremely weird and wonderful people. It was Yuki's and Kyou's cousin, Momiji who was such a cute little boy! But a little bouncy, there was also their cousin Hatori who was older than the others, he seemed so serious. He had noticed me looking at them and sent me a glare, I started when I noticed that there was something wrong with his eye, he seemed to be blind. Then there was an incident with the random rabbit that just appeared on Touru's leg, and Momiji had disappeared. It was a long day.

I got away from the stall as soon as I could after all that, I needed time to learn some lines for a play I was doing at the time. I decided to sit at the base of the sakura tree in the school grounds and started to read my script. As I read I became engrossed in the story, and also my own thoughts. I remember that time so vividly now, how I gradually fell asleep under the blossoms of the sakura tree. I must have been there for a while, and I remember how I woke up to find myself underneath a coat. It was slightly darker than when I had fallen asleep, the sky was the colour of the blossoms above my head and it was beautiful. A noise sounded near me, and I saw Kyou walk up the slope toward me. I then realised that it was his coat covering me and made to get up and give it to him, but he put his finger to his lips and came closer. Slowly he came, and then got on his knees and crawled gradually towards me. I felt my heart beat faster in my chest as he leant forward and brushed my hair out of my face, kissing me softly. I opened my eyes and looked back into his, his eyes were mesmerising; a mixture of pain, sorrow and love lay in them and I felt that I could never look away from them. He kissed me again, longer this time and he leant forward and put his hands on my face, I kissed him back shyly at first but then with more passion. After what seemed like no time at all he groaned and sat beside me, eyes gazing into mine. He did not put his arms around me, but instead stayed and watched as I fell asleep once more. When I came round up I found not Kyou beside me, but a small orange cat curled up on the corner of his coat. I stroked it absent-mindedly as I thought about what had taken place, and let out a contented sigh. I remained underneath the tree for a while longer, the cat eventually going away, disappearing into the trees.


	5. 4, Moonlit Flowers

When I woke up the next morning, I felt overwhelmingly happy for no reason. It took me a while to remember what had happened the day before and when I did my happiness instantly increased tenfold. I remembered the feel of Kyou's lips on mine and yearned for more, I had never felt this way before. I had to get to school, but all I wanted to do was stay at home and immerse myself in that feeling. School wasn't important, my plays and dance didn't matter to me anymore, I just wanted to feel like I had the night before again. Eventually I managed to pull myself out of bed and pull on some clothes; I rushed my breakfast before running out the door to head for school, still feeling like I was floating mid-air.

When I got to school I was late again, and I rushed into the classroom to see whether Kyou was there. But he wasn't there and immediately my hopes plummeted, where was he? I needed to talk to him so much it hurt. I slumped down at a desk next to Arisa and moped.

"What's wrong Kakuro-chan?" Arisa asked me, surprised, "You are never depressed!"

"Oh it's nothing, don't worry. I didn't sleep very well. Oh, do you know where Ky- Orangey is?"

"No idea, why don't you ask Touru?"

"Er Touru?"

"Yes Katani-chan?"

"Do you know where Kyou is?" I asked desperately.

"He is sick I'm afraid, he said he must have caught a cold last night. He didn't come down this morning."

"Oh, OK."

I slumped further onto the desk, _dammit_, I thought, _is he only saying he is ill because he doesn't want to see me or is he genuinely sick? _This sucked. I had a feeling that I wasn't going to see Kyou again before New Year, my dream of greeting the New Year with him was over.

"Er, are you OK Kakuro? You seem really depressed about something"

Oh great, it was Kurina. Kurina had noticed I was depressed and no one else had. What the hell was she doing? Some weird little dancey thing, didn't she notice people watching?

"Get out of the way doofus!"

A girl taller than Kurina shoved her out of the way and turned to me.

"Heya hun, what's wrong?" pushing her long blonde hair out of her face, why did she never tie it up? I nodded in brief reply, why couldn't people leave me alone?

"Saki, I was talking to Kakuro" whined Kurina.

"Well tough luck scummy, you seem to have upset her further. You sure that you are Ok? You look pretty down." I nodded again. "Ah well," she gave me a hug. "Cheer up Ok?"

With that she walked away, with Kurina following her. I watched them in bewilderment, how come the only people who really noticed how I was feeling were two girls I never talked to? I sighed and hit my head on the desk once more and went to sleep, dreaming of the day before.

Kyou was "ill" for the rest of the week, and I still hadn't seen him by the time we broke up for New Year. This year everything was beautiful, as it was every year; the cherry blossom trees were almost in full bloom, their pink petals shining in the light of a full moon, and on the eve of New Year it was snowing steadily. Normally I loved New Year, it was one of the only times of year that all of my family was in the same house together. We would exchange presents and tell each other what we had been doing while we had been away. But this year that factor was changed, my dad, my brother and I went to visit my mother in hospital. She was in with some kind of cancer; the doctor said that she didn't have much longer to live. We all gave her presents, and then each of us spent some time alone with her. When it was my turn we sat in silence for a while, watching the snow fall together. After the silence I told her about Kyou, and asked her what I should do. She told me to be patient, that he was probably just shy. It was the way that she and her father had fallen in love; she had waited, and he had come to her eventually.

"And after-all, who could resist my beautiful daughter?" she said.

"Aaaw, mum, the true beauty in this family is you" I leant forward and kissed her on the forehead, blinking back the tears that were running down my face.

"Don't worry about me Kakuro, you go and have fun on New Year. Throw a party while your dad is away next week, I'll talk to the owners of the house and see if they will allow it, im sure that they will seeing as your poor father works so hard for their family. I won't sleep peacefully knowing that my daughter is moping around all day rather than socialising with those of her own age."

After that I hugged my mother tightly and held her hand as she gradually fell asleep, with all the machines beeping around me, I didn't know how my mum could cope with all these things being around her. They reminded me of death. As I sat there and watched her I pondered her advice, maybe she was right; there might be another chance for me. I then found myself drawn to the sight of the snow gathering on the cherry blossom tree outside the window, _life is so beautiful,_ I thought, turning to look at my mother once more. I slowly fell asleep leaning on the bed, the duvet around me wet with tears. After a while my dad knocked on the door.

"Kakuro? We have to go now; the hospital is closing for the night. Visiting hours are over."

I quietly followed him out and joined my brother in the hallway. He flashed me a weak smile and linked arms with me; my family left the hospital in silence. After a brief stop to pet the orange cat sleeping near our car we drove home to go to bed, we wouldn't stay awake to greet the New Year this year.

NB: okaaay.. that wath really thhort. But Kara made me do two thhort chapterth inthtead of one long one becauthe thhe wanted to read thomething. If thith ith way too thhort I thhall take it down and add the other chapter to it. Thorry about it being thad… I feel tired and deprethed.

That chapter wath really random, and thad ;;


	6. 5, Bruised Petals

I planned the party all holiday; I even made invitations to hand out to people in the hallways on the first day of term. My brother was still at home so he was going to invite people as well; this was going to be huge. I was so excited; I hadn't been able to have a party in ages due to the fact that we had to ask the family that dad worked for permission for everything. The only problem was that I did not know whether or not we had the consent of the family; however we were expecting words from them sometime soon, and it was the last day of the holidays when I was woken up by a knock on the door, my brother was out so I quickly got dressed and answered it. Standing outside was a tall man with longish, dark hair, he wore a suit and when I opened the door he looked up, revealing to me that he was blind in one eye.

"Oh, hamimemashite." I bowed to him hesitantly.

"Ohio, my name is Hatori; I have come about your request to host a party here next week."

"Oh, really? Er, do you want to come in?" I asked.

"I'd love to, but I'm afraid I have to go soon. Just to say that the head of our family gives you permission for you to have a party in this house, as long as the music is not too loud and you don't disturb the people in our neighbourhood."

"Thank-you so much! You won't believe how much this means to me and my brother!" I was almost jumping up and down on the doorstep; Hatori looked a little worried for my sanity.

"Well im sorry but I have to leave now, our compliments to your family." He said, turning and getting back in his car. "Have a fun party." He added, smiling, before he drove away.

I went inside and shut the door behind me, "Yes!" I yelled to no one in particular, setting off my cat, who ran across the kitchen floor and went to hide in the cupboard. I picked her up and waved her around, dancing around the kitchen as I did so. My depression was officially over and I looked forward to the next day more than ever.

When I got to school the next day, late, I found that I had another reason to rejoice. At first when I saw Kyou in the classroom at lunch time I became upset, but I had resolved to deal with my problems and my mother's advice was still ringing in my ears. Later on I cornered him.

"We need to talk."

"Huh? What about?"

I hesitated, he genuinely looked surprised. Maybe he had been ill.

"About the other day, when you came to me while I was reading."

He blushed, "Yeah. I remember"

"I looked for you the following day, you weren't there, and then I waited the whole week for you to come back to school. Touru said you were ill."

"I'm really sorry, OK? I was er.. well I wasn't really ill. But it wasn't just you. I didn't mean to offend you, gomen. It was.. well what it was was that.. "

I cut him off, smiling. He looked so cute fumbling there I had to help him out.

"It's ok. Hey listen I'm having a party this weekend, want to come along?"

"Yeah, sure." He replied bashfully. "As long as that damn Yuki isn't there."

"No don't worry he couldn't come." A little white lie wouldn't hurt would it? "But bring anyone you can find. Touru, Arisa and Hana are going."

"Well I look forward to it" He looked me in the eye for the first time that day, and I felt my heart speed up again as he leant in to kiss me lightly on the lips.

"Oh, and Kakuro?"

"Yes?"

"I would love it if I could come to your party. Well, I would like to come as your boyfriend"

After a time he left me drowning in happiness, melting where he had touched me.

The rest of the week passed quickly, and by the end of it I was sure that I had at least fifty of my year going, let alone my brother's friends. Then there was the extended invitation to randoms, I was lucky that Hatori's (I could no longer say "the family dad worked for") family had given us a big house. My brother's friend would DJ, and another was bringing cheap booze. We had the house ready, all the valuable things were put away, bean bags and big cushions were out for people to sit around on everywhere. I chose my outfit carefully with Arisa an hour before, just some jeans, black top with pink one underneath, my converses and a green half kimono. That and a little bit of make-up put in place and we were ready. My brother's friend, Akuma, and I unloaded the beer and Bacardi's while my brother and Arisa checked that all the breakable stuff had gone away.

At 8 people had started to arrive, Touru and Yuki being some of the first. They had two other people behind them who I didn't know.

"Katani-san, these are my cousins." Yuki informed me. "This is Haru-"

"Yo" said the guy next to him; he was quite tall with weird hair and a lot of piercings.

"-And this is his girlfriend/ cousin-"

"Distant cousin" piped in Haru.

"-Fine, distant cousin, Cho" the girl next to Haru waved, I smiled back.

"Nice to meet you both, help yourself to booze. See you later guys."

With that Cho grabbed Haru's hand and dragged him straight to the drinks table. After that they disappeared into the crowd, Yuki went to hide from his numerous fans (who I guessed had only come because he was) and Touru just stood there and smiled at me apologetically.

"Can I help?" she asked politely, as always.

"Yeah sure, go find Arisa and hang with her for a bit. I have to meet some people." She nodded obediently and disappeared, rather hesitantly, into the crowd after Haru and Cho. Several more people arrived, and I sent them off with "Go, drink, make merry, dance, party. Go.", into the fray.

The music was great; my brother had great taste in music and most of my CD collection was stolen from him. Everyone was dancing and by 11 most people had found a partner, or didn't care anymore. I sat and waited, watching poor Touru become more and more alarmed by the amount of drinking going on. She kept offering to help people who had fallen over, and apologised to them when they wouldn't get up. At 11 there was finally another knock on the door, I was the only one who heard it. I went into the hall answered the door, my spirits soared when I saw who it was.

"Sorry I'm late, had a lot of work, was training and then didn't notice the time for ages."

Kyou's speech was broken and he was out of breath, he had obviously run to get here.

"It doesn't matter, the party is only getting started anyway." I reassured him. "Come in."

He looked a little surprised when he came in; I had forgotten that he was uncomfortable around lots of people. _Well, _I thought, _I'll just have to take him away from the crowds won't I? _

"Want a drink or anything? It was help yourself but I think that all the drinks kind of.. magically disappeared" This was a little embarrassing, he must have thought that we were all alcoholics or something.

"I don't mind, I'll just have some water or something."

I led him to the kitchen, and immediately he kissed me, just in time for Yuki to walk in on us while trying to close the door on a mass of mad fan girls.

He stopped.

"What are you doing?" he said. He sounded angry.

Kyou bristled, "What is he doing here?" he demanded. "You said he wasn't coming"

Yuki looked at me in bewilderment, but then his face hardened again.

"Kyou, I would like to talk to you."

"What? Why would I want to talk to you?"

"About what you are doing. Do you realise what this looks like?"

I was lost, what had Kyou done wrong?

"Do you think I care about what you think, you damn rat?" he yelled.

"Well, you should do. This could cause great damage."

Kyou made as if to hit him.

"Kyou-kun-" I began; Kyou faltered and looked at me, then turned and ran out of the room.

Yuki stood back, puzzled. He turned to look at me but I didn't stay to find out what he wanted, before I knew it I was running out after Kyou.

I searched all over my house, finally finding Kyou in the walk-in cupboard in the laundry room. He started when he heard me come in, and then turned away again.

"Why did you follow me here?" he asked.

"Because I wanted to know what was wrong, and what happened just then."

"Listen Kakuro, I can't tell you the reason why but I have to say this. I hate to admit it but Yuki was right. I can't see you, that night by the cherry blossom tree was a mistake. I'm not allowed to see anyone, ever."

I didn't understand. "Why? Why can't you see me? Why was Yuki so mad?"

Kyou turned away. I moved closer to him, made to hug him before he could leave me. This thing was stupid; we had never even had a chance to go out. We had kissed yes, and there was passion there I had felt it. Why were we not allowed to try? But Kyou caught me my surprise by suddenly swinging round and stopping me.

"Don't!" he said. "Don't hug me!"

"Why not?" I asked. "That night when you came to me I saw the truth in you eyes, you wanted me. I wanted you. Yet you did not embrace me once. Not once did you embrace me, I have never seen you embrace anyone, never. What is the problem? Why won't you let people do that?"

"I can't ok? So just drop it." He let his arms lose slightly, I saw my chance. Instantly I moved in and hugged him tightly. But what I hugged was no longer solid, there was a cloud of smoke and Kyou was gone. Instead of him being there, there was the little orange cat I had seen twice before.

I screamed and ran out the door, running right into Cho.

Cho looked surprised, "Kakuro-chan, what's wrong?"

Kyou then came chasing after me, putting his shirt back on. Cho assessed this scene slowly,

"Oh-" she said. "Oh dear."


	7. 6, New Discoveries

"Oh- Oh dear." Cho repeated, looking seriously worried.

Kyou made as if to speak, but Cho grabbed my hand and led me into the nearest room. Kyou followed, also looking worried. As for me, I was in a state of complete shock, I could tell that Kyou was trying to meet my eyes, but I couldn't look at him. What was going on? This had to be some sort of trick. But if it was how could everyone be so serious? Cho led me in and guided me to a bed, which she made me sit down on. I faintly recognized it to be my own.

"Kyou, go find a drink for her. See if you can find Haru on the way, don't tell Yuki."

"OK, are you sure you want me to leave?"

"Yes, go away. Come back later with Haru."

I heard Kyou leave the room, as he did Cho immediately hugged me really tightly.

"What happened? How did you.."

She looked at me questioningly. I tried to look up, but my body wasn't obeying me. Cho waited for me to recover some more, and then I managed to meet her eyes.

"He wouldn't let me hug him.. I didn't know why, he had argued with Yuki about something I didn't understand. I followed him out of the kitchen. I thought I could make him feel better; I then tried to hug him against his will. He tried to stop me, but he was off-guard, and then.. then."

I looked away, what had happened? I was so confused. I had seen that orange cat before, was that..

"Cho, there was a cat. Was that.. was that Kyou?"

"Yes."

"H-how? How could that cat be Kyou?"

At that point the door opened, and Kyou and Haru came in, closely followed by Yuki. Yuki's face was set, he did not look very happy. Kyou and Haru were looking extremely uncomfortable.

"What happened?" Yuki asked me.

"She-"

"I didn't ask you, I asked Kakuro." All the usual politeness was gone, this wasn't like Yuki.

"I-I don't know what happened. Please, just tell me what the hell is going on."

Yuki looked surprised.

"Katani-san, you mean that you didn't know anything?"

"That's what Haru and I were trying to tell you." Kyou muttered.

Yuki immediately relaxed. I didn't, I still had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"So we don't have to tell anyone, we can just tell her she was drunk and that she dreamt it all. Her memories won't need to be erased!" he said.

Memories erased? What was this, and find out what? Wait, I was _not_ drunk! They kept ignoring me; I was still in the room! And I was recovering quite fast now. I stood up suddenly, making everyone jump.

"Excuse me? What is all this? Why am I not allowed to be told whatever this _thing _is? I am in this room too you know!"

Everyone looked surprised, except for Haru.

"Quite right." He said, chuckling. "We have not forgotten you, especially not after this wonderful party."

As he said this Kyou looked like he had finally recovered, he turned to me.

"Look, Kakuro I'm so sorry. I should never have approached you that night. It was all my fault.. and I owe to you to tell you about this. However when I tell you this I may not be able to protect you from what will follow, so now there is a choice, either you can accept what I'm about to tell you, or you can agree to forget about this incident and pretend that we never felt this way."

It was really hard to look at him after what had happened, but what I felt for him was still there, because my heart was still beating in my chest, I could still hear the party going on from outside my room, I was still aware of the way that he looked at me, I did not want to lose that. I nodded.

"I want to know."

"Wait Kakuro, are you sure?" said Cho.

"I think she is sure." Said Yuki suddenly, making Kyou flinch. He came towards me, smiling, and helped me sit down again "But you must promise not to tell anyone, ever."

"Yes," added Kyou. "Not even anyone else from our family."

I nodded again.

"So, when you hugged Kyou, he disappeared right? And then you saw that cat."

"Yeah."

"You were right, that cat was Kyou. You see, the Soumas are under a curse, a select few of us."

"But not you honey." Cho hit Haru playfully.

"If you call me honey again you shall lose your hair" she retorted, smiling. She turned back to me, "Anyway, these few are possessed by spirits of the Chinese zodiac. There are thirteen, twelve zodiacs and the cat."

I looked at Kyou, how horrible to be the cat; he caught me looking at him and looked down as if embarrassed.

"So Kyou is the cat. Is that why he transformed then?"

"Yes" said Haru lazily, "Whenever we are hugged by a member of the opposite sex we transform into our animal."

"You mean you are one of the zodiac?"

"Oops, yeah."

"That is quite cool, pity you can't hug people though."

"Yeah it is," he smiled at Cho, who looked uncomfortable.

"Right ok, now she knows," Said Yuki, "Are you going to keep this secret? Or will we have to silence you?"

"Yuki!"

I met Yuki's eyes; he looked so calm and serious, yet sad. I could tell that he didn't want to do that. I wouldn't give him a reason to.

"Of course I can, I won't tell anyone. I swear- I swear on my mother's life."

Kyou looked up suddenly; I then knew that he _was_ that cat I saw on New Year's. His eyes met mine and I saw that he understood, that this was a promise that I would never ever break.

Satisfied, everyone left the room, Cho giving me a short hug on her way out.

"Will you ever forgive me for getting you into this?" Kyou asked.

"Of course I will, I already have. I have learnt an amazing secret tonight, I'm so happy."

"Please, please don't let any other Souma's know or they shall erase your memories. I don't think that I could cope with that. Let it be that only Haru, Cho and Yuki know, or everything will be over. However you may tell Touru."

"Ha! I knew that she was hiding something. Don't worry, I promised."

With that I leant forward and kissed him, avoiding hugging him but instead holding out his arms with mine, putting my head and torso forward to meet his and pushing the rest of my body back. He looked surprised and then grinned, kissing me back and pulling me toward him again.

"That doesn't matter much anymore." He whispered.

And with that he pulled me toward him and embraced me. I looked down at the bundle of clothes and laughed.

"Do you mind this?" he asked. "Me being part cat?"

"Why would I? I think you're cute." I was still laughing, I was so happy.

"Well that is good then, as long as you don't prefer dogs." As he said this he turned back to Kyou, and kissed me again.

"I love you" he said calmly. I looked up at him, smiling.

"I love you too."


	8. 7, Things You've Never Done

The next few weeks were amazing; Kyou and I spent as much time together as we could. My father was away again, this time in France, so we took advantage of this and took over the house seeing as we couldn't be seen together in many other places. The other Souma's in his house must have thought that he was dead; he was always over at mine hanging out or helping me learn my lines. We were together constantly, I had more time on my hands because I had quit dance drama- it was really bad without Kuroumo there to help- and I had changed my shift at the café to Saturday mornings so I could hang out with him in the afternoon. We would have massive pillow fights, eat ice-cream directly out of the tub and invent weird new recipes, all the little things that you want to do when you are five but aren't allowed to. We would quiz each other, asking what we were afraid of and things that we had never done. He had never been to an amusement park, he had never eaten out at a posh restaurant, he hadn't been to the theatre, and he had never taken a carriage ride in the park. He asked me, I told him that I had always wanted a tattoo or a piercing. Also I had never been to a festival or seen a horror movie..

"So," Kyou finally said. "Want to make these things come true?"

"Hell yeah!" I replied.

"Well let's do it all together then."

"Cool."

"Good idea?" he asked, turning to look at me.

I kissed him, "I think it is an amazing idea."

When my shift was over that Saturday Kyou met me outside the café, he said that he had somewhere that we should go and dragged me behind him.

"Where are we going?" I asked, laughing.

"You'll see, hurry up or we are going to be late".

"Late for what?"

"You'll see!"

Aah! I hated it when people did that.

"Isn't there a hint?"

"Er yeah sure, you don't have to take me out to a posh dinner. I just said that cos I felt like it. I never want to go to a posh restaurant."

"What?" aah! "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You'll see."

If this didn't kill me, later he was going to wish he had never been born.

After what seemed like ages Kyou stopped.

"Finally! Now where are you taking me?"

He smirked, "I have _taken_ you here."

He waved his arm in the direction of a small shop. I studied the front; it had a small sign hanging over the door saying "Yumi's Tattoos". I wanted to hug Kyou so much.

"Oh my God! Thank-you!"

"You're welcome, and by the way I'm paying. Pick anything you like."

"Whoah Kyou thank-you so much!"

We went inside the shop; there were tattoo designs all around the walls. Yumi, the owner, was really nice to us, she showed me all the tattoos and told us the prices, when Kyou said he was paying she winked at me.

"Lucky girl!"

After what Kyou said had seemed like ages I found one that I liked. It was a tattoo that went round the arm, it was dark reddy-brown coloured in the shape of a heart. It was just the outline of the heart, with dots and swirls around it. It was so pretty and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. I pointed it out to Yumi and Kyou. Yumi said that she had designed that one herself; and it was her favourite one. I asked Kyou if he liked it and he said that as long as it wasn't of a "cute fluffy animal" he loved it. Yumi then led us into the room at the back and informed me about all the procedures and care, she then said that she would add some more to the design while she put it on me, as a special thank-you for picking that design. I didn't really like needles so I had Kyou hold my hand throughout; but he was watching the procedure with a little too much interest for my liking. I squeezed his hand and he smiled at me,

"Is it bad?" I asked.

"No, it looks perfect."

I summed up the courage to look at my arm, Yumi was adding swirls that went around the rest of my arm to the design and it was beautiful. She smiled at me reassuringly while she worked, I smiled back and turned away from my arm, squemish.

After what seemed like hours Yumi stood back to admire her work

"It's done" she said. "I think that it looks really good."

Kyou peered to look as well. "Hey wow the sissy design actually turned out to look really nice!"

I hit him lightly. "You said you liked it!"

"Er.. well it was better than the little bunnies on the other wall."

At least he had the courtesy to look sorry.

Yumi showed me the mirror to see what my tattoo was like. I gasped, I loved it, it looked so much nicer than it had on the paper.

"Thank-you! It's amazing I love it so much! You are wonderful."

"Ahem."

"Well.. of course it was your idea Kyou and you are paying for it, but Yumi did it."

"Ok fine."

I grabbed hold of his arm and squeezed it.

"I love it thank-you so much."

When I went back to school on Monday it was so cool, everyone was going on about my tattoo. People I never normally talked to stopped me in the hallway and asked me about where I got it, whether or not it had hurt, how much it had been. I smiled at the last question, Kyou had refused to tell me the price, and he had said that it was a gift. Kyou noticed all the attention I got as well, we couldn't meet at lunch time because of the flock of people around me, but we smiled at each other across the room. I was so happy about my tattoo; I thought it showed off a part of me that wasn't normally visible. My friends all liked it too; I didn't tell them that Kyou had bought it for me because they weren't supposed to know, but I knew that Yuki and Touru had guessed who the culprit was as they were both smiling more than the others. After school Kyou and I walked home in the winds of the early spring when the cherry blossom leaves were in bloom once more.


	9. 8, Blue Flowers

"Hey Kyou-kun, I have a plan that will lower our boredom levels completely!"

I attacked Kyou from behind, I couldn't glomp him, but I had found a way of doing it without actually hugging him. It involved the same run up and jump, but instead of the hug at the end I would put all my weight on his shoulders and lift myself into the air. I thought it was a great invention, Kyou said that I was stupid. This action startled him, he hadn't heard me coming.

"Eh? What the.."

"Kyou Souma, the great martial arts expert, can't even sense his girlfriend sneaking up on him!" I joked, slapping him lightly on the arm.

"Well, firstly, it's known as _sneaking_, I'm not _supposed_ to know you are coming. Secondly, you could announce your presence in a less painful, and more lady-like manner."

"Aaaw Kyou-kun you are so meeaaan! Now I won't tell you my plan" I was being whiny, I knew it. It annoyed him soo much.

"Fine, what is this great idea?"

"We are going to go to the beach"

His face dropped slightly, then he managed to pull it back together.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, I'm the cat.."

"Yeah."

"Cat's don't like water. I find it quite hard to keep my head while near the sea, I'm sorry but I'm not sure that I'd be able to swim in the sea." He blushed and looked down, I felt so stupid.

"Don't worry, I can find something to take your mind off it! I need to go into the sea to help the skin around my tattoo heal. In fact I have the perfect idea."

"What?"

"I can teach you how to surf! It will take your mind off the water. We can get Cho, Haru, Yuki, Hana, Arisa and Touru to come as well!"

"Yuki?" His expression was scaring me.

"Well, you don't have to talk to him."

"Fine, that damn rat can come."

Kyou had explained to me the animals of the Souma's that I had met so far, so I knew about the cat/ rat thing, but at that time he hadn't known that I had met Kuroumo. That discovery was to wait.

That Saturday I went to pick everyone up from Kyou's house. It was a perfect day, warm for spring and also perfect wind for surfing. I pulled up outside the house in my kombi, it was going to be a bit cramped, all the extra space was taken up by surfboards. Everyone clambered into the car, Kyou sitting in the front with me. We were just about to drive off when someone came out of the house.

"Kyou-kun, Yuki-kun, Touru! Where are you going without me?" a voice whined, I stopped the car and was about to open the door when Kyou held me back.

"That's my cousin Shigure, don't talk to him. Don't let him find out about you." He whispered.

As he said this Yuki had somehow managed to clamber over everyone without physical contact and was talking to his cousin. What Yuki said was quiet, but I could hear everything that Shigure said.

"Ooooh! You are going to the beach! Can I come? Please please please!"

Yuki was beginning to look annoyed, so I pushed away Kyou's arm and got out the car. It seemed that Shigure's voice had carried inside the house, because someone else was coming out of the door. I gasped in surprise, it was Kuroumo!

"What's going on? Shigure, Yuki told you that they were going to the beach today! Oooh! Whose car is that?"

"Kuroumo! It's mine"

I ran up to greet her, the look of surprise on her face making me laugh. We hugged each other, laughing. All the Souma's looked surprised.

I then turned to Shigure and bowed slightly.

"Ohio Shigure-san, may I relieve you of Yuki, Kyou and Touru for the day?"

He looked slightly taken aback.

"Why of course, er.. what is your name?"

"I am Kakuro, Touru's friend from school."

He looked at Kyou sitting in the front, then back at me with a puzzled expression.

"Ok! I have made my decision!" he said, smiling.

"Yes.."

"You can go!"

"Really? Thank you." I bowed once more, but Yuki looked annoyed. Shigure seemed to have something else to say.

"As long as I can come with you!"

I was left standing there as he ran into the house and then piled into the car. Kuroumo smiled at me apologetically and then said that she would come to keep an eye on him.

I have to say that Shigure was an extremely immature adult, if Ku hadn't been there to shut him up I don't know what I would have done to him, Kyou and I had half a temper between us. By the end of the journey I had renamed him "Gooey", because that is what I wished he was. A small gooey thing on the floor that I could tread on and squish. He was funny but he got on my nerves after awhile.

When we arrived at the beach it was lunch time, the tide was coming in so there weren't many bathers, making this beach surfer heaven. I told the others to unpack everything and get changed and then we all sat around and had lunch. It was great fun, I hadn't been to the beach with friends in a long time. We all ran around and played games, my favourite of which was bums. Yuki and Kyou got a bit competitive and the ball accidentally hit Cho a couple of times (she was standing next to Yuki). However Cho didn't seem to mind that much, she would laugh and throw it right back at Kyou's head. Kyou then threw the ball to me, and I threw it right at Haru, winking at Cho while laughing my head off. We played that game for ages; it was generally Gooey who got bums, cos we kept on throwing it at him really hard. Then it came to the time when I decided it was right for surfing and we all (except Hana, who couldn't find a black swimming costume) went into the sea and tried to catch some waves. Haru and I were the only people who had surfed before so we had to teach the others. I made sure that Haru got Cho, Ku, Gooey and Yuki while I taught Arisa, Touru and Kyou. Everyone was having a great time and by the end of the day everyone had caught some decent waves except Touru, who fell off every time. We managed to keep going until around 4, so we were all shattered by the time we came out of the sea.

While everyone else was getting changed Kyou and I went around the corner where there were caves and sat down in the sand. We were mid-kiss when we heard a sound behind us, and looked up to see Gooey and Ku staring at us. Obviously they had had exactly the same idea. Then suddenly Kyou grabbed my hand and dragged me away.

"Shit, run! I'll take care of this. Go get Yuki and Haru, quickly!"

I ran to where the others were as Kyou went towards Ku and Gooey, and sent Yuki and Haru with a brief explanation.

I sat with the others, half-listening to what they were saying. I was really worried, what would happen now? After what seemed like ages everyone came back to us, Kyou looked relieved and Gooey and Ku were walking together in silence. I sat up, waiting for news, but no one told me anything. I thought that maybe it had gone wrong, and that Kyou couldn't talk to me anymore. But I was hoping that I hadn't imagined Kyou's relieved expression.

"Come on guys let's go back now, it is getting late." Everyone had been silent until then, I was surprised at the sound of my own voice.

As we all piled back into the van Ku winked at me,

"It's all Ok, we know. Shigure and I are zodiac as well, dog and horse. Don't worry, it will be fine."

I dropped everyone off at their houses on the way back, and Kyou and I went back to mine.

"Yo, don't worry it is ok, Shigure and Kuroumo wont tell anyone. Shigure won't even tell Akito, the head of our family. I think he is scared of what Kuroumo will do to him if he does."

I'm sure Kyou that was more worried than I was; I just put on some music and kicked back on the sofa.

"Yeah, thanks. I don't doubt Gooey's word."

"Gooey?"

I laughed; I hadn't been able to tell Kyou about his cousin's nickname during the day. He laughed too when he had heard my explanation and then relaxed. We lay on the sofa for ages, listening to music, before we went upstairs. I had forgotten to turn off the stereo downstairs, and the music kept on playing all night.


	10. chapter 9

It was a beautiful morning in spring; the cherry blossoms were just beginning to fall, leaving a thick pink and white carpet on the ground. Kyou and I woke up to find the weather warm and pleasant, it had been raining the past few days and Kyou had been unhappy. Something had happened that he hadn't wanted to talk about, I wanted to know but I knew better than to question him. He seemed more relaxed and happier; he was constantly fiddling with the bead bracelet at his wrist. He was better to be around as well, giving me kisses and hugs all the time, even if it meant becoming a cat. I was confused at to what brought about this change, but left it to the clearing of the rain.

I remember this morning with particular detail, as I have the night by the cherry blossom tree. Somehow the cherry blossoms seem to have been tied in with my fate over the years; and that morning when we went downstairs to eat breakfast and watch some TV I feel that the carpet of cherry blossoms on the ground, looking like snow stained with light-coloured blood, somehow knew what would happen next, and that I would have as much control over it as I had control over the changing of the seasons. As Kyou and I went down the stairs, I pointed out the beauty outside through the window. He had hit me lightly on the shoulder, saying that I was a sissy and that guys like him did not care what the colour of the cherry trees were. The only thing that interested him was the colour of the deepest pink blossoms, remarking how much they looked like blood. I hit him back, laughing.

"What shall we watch?" I asked him.

"I don't mind, as long as it isn't Mogeta." He said, I laughed, he had told me about that expedition to the cinema with his cousin Kagura. I had been upset that I hadn't spent either Valentine's Day or White Day with him, but he had explained about the influences of his family and I had given up.

"Ok, we won't watch Mogeta. How about Gravitation?"

"You watch yaoi??" he looked shocked.

"Hey it is just an anime! Fine then, Blue Submarine no. 6? It has violence in it.."

"Yes!" he instantly sat down on the sofa.

I put on the anime for him and went to fix breakfast. For some reason Kyou hated cooking, he didn't believe in making food look pretty or taste nice. I had tried to make him cook once, but he got mad and sulked in the corner. I cracked the eggs into the pan and turned on the music.

"How much bacon do you want?" I yelled at him.

"Dunno.. but im starving."

I sighed, guys were bottomless pits. I put in three rashers for him and one for me, and sat listening to the music and the TV while everything started to cook.

The morning went as usual; we ate our breakfast together, washed up and then got dressed. We lounged around on the sofas for a while, kissing. But then it was time for him to go to his dojo and train. I let him out the door,

"I love you." He said, kissing me before he left.

I kissed him back, delighting in everything around me.

"What do you think you are doing?"

I looked down at the pavement, to see my dad standing outside a big black car, looking extremely angry.

"What do you think you are doing? Do you know who that is?"

"Dad?"

"I said do you know what you are doing?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could reply Kyou stiffened next to me, looking inside the car.

"Akito." He said, voice filled with hatred and fear.


	11. Chapter 10

The next thing that I knew my father dragged me away from Kyou and pushed me in the car.

"I'm sorry Kakuro." He whispered in my ear, I watched him as the car drove away, he looked sad. I saw Kyou chasing the car out of the corner of my eye, but was forced to turn around by an ice-cold grip.

"You are Kakuro?"

"H-hai"

I studied the man whom I was facing; he had a thin face, making him look like he had gone through a lot of suffering. He looked young; I thought that maybe I could talk to him. But then I saw his eyes. His cold, dark eyes. I instantly became afraid, the look on Kyou's face when he had seen this man was one of pure terror, the memory made me shudder.

"What did you think that you were doing back there?"

His voice was as cold as his eyes, I wished more than anything that I was back on that pavement with Kyou. Where was he? What was happening to him? Would he follow me?

"N-nani?"

he stuck me across the face.

"Don't say that to me; call me "sir" if you must address me."

"Hai, sir."

"Do you know who I am?"

"Are you Akito-san?"

"Good, that means I don't have to explain anything to you myself."

The car drew up outside a massive house, the gates opened and we went in. When the driver had parked Akito shoved me right out of the car onto the ground. I tried to look around me, but he dragged me into a huge building behind him.

"Kakuro!"

Kyou was running up to the gate, I could hardly see him for the tears of pain welling up in my eyes.

"Kyou!" I called back; he saw me and ran faster toward me. He was almost at the gate when they shut before him. I couldn't believe that this was happening, the pain was excruciating, Akito was still dragging me behind him. He shoved me inside the house and threw me into a small room.

"Stay in there!" he yelled, closing the door on me.

The room was horrible, all dark and cold, I could hardly move. I didn't know what was going to happen to me, Akito had told me that he didn't feel the need to explain. I now knew why Kyou was so terrified of him; he had mentioned something about wiping my memory, that couldn't happen could it? The image of him running up to the gate, the look on his face when he couldn't get in made me cry again. This time it wasn't just of physical pain, but of mental too. I couldn't face not knowing what was going to happen to me and why.

There was a noise in the corner, I started, there was someone else there in the room with me. I looked up, there, huddled in the corner, was a girl. She looked slightly older than me, and just as scared as I was.

"Hello?"

The girl looked up; she looked just as surprised as I was to see me there. As soon as she heard my voice she flinched and started clawing at her face, gasping for air. I was scared and startled, instantly rushing over to help her. She sensed me coming and shrank away, screaming. I just sat in the corner, despairing at what I could do. I don't know how long I was in that room for; I was starving and covered in dirt. The girl showed no sign of leaving, she just sat in the corner and moaned occasionally. I thought that I was going mad.

"Nari!"

the door opened suddenly, a tall man with dark hair was standing in the doorway; he looked at me and blinked.

"What are you doing here?"

"I-I don't know. I was.."

"Kakuro?"

That was Shigure's voice, I knew it. The man in the doorway looked behind him,

"Shigure?"

"I just heard Kakuro's voice I could have sworn it."

"Shigure!" I yelled as loud as I could, which after Akito had done with me wasn't very loud.

"Hatori it is! Out the way."

I saw Hatori shoved away from the door, and Shigure came in and after looking at me, picked me up, and took me outside, I wasn't really registering what was going on.

"What happened? Why was she in there?"

"I don't know, Akito brought a girl in a couple of days ago, I hadn't known what had happened."

A couple of days? I must have moved, because Shigure looked down at me with a frown.

"Here, let me look at her." Hatori leant towards me and started taking a pulse.

"Yes, but not here. I want to take her away before.."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Shigure almost dropped me, that was Akito's voice I could hear.

"I SAID WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Im sorry Akito-san, I found this girl here and I thought maybe it was a mistake."

"WHO SAID YOU COULD GO IN THERE?"

Shigure looked down; Akito hit him, making me fall to the floor. The next thing I knew I was being dragged somewhere again. It hurt so much that I couldn't help but bite back at the hand covering my mouth, Akito yelped. He slapped me, but I was beginning to get back my strength. I could see properly now, and I was going to use that, and the fact that Akito was weak from illness, to my advantage. I stood up shakily, it was all or nothing. I advanced upon Akito, preparing to strike. He screeched something that I couldn't hear to Hatori and Shigure, who moved to restrain me, and Akito hit me over the head. I blacked out.

When I re-awoke I found myself back in the small room, only my wounds were more painful. I screamed as soon as I moved, and blacked out again. What must have been ages later I felt someone wetting my forehead, and opened my eyes to see Hatori standing over me.

"Follow me, if you can walk. I'm sorry."

I got up incredibly slowly and painfully and followed Hatori out of the room.

"I have spoken to Kyou; he says that he is sorry. He is in the building, but don't try to run to him, you will make his situation worse."

I nodded a reply, every muscle in my body hurt.

I followed Hatori into a huge, empty room.

"Sit down there."

I sat down obediently. I couldn't focus, my head was throbbing.

"Is Kyou going to be ok?"

He hesitated, then nodded. I knew that he wasn't telling the truth, and tears came flooding out of my eyes before I could stop them. Hatori knelt in front of me and looked me over.

"After this your wounds shall be treated, what I do now won't hurt."

Several things happened at once; first Hatori moved his arm up towards my head and begun to draw his fingers down to my eyes. Secondly, shouting erupted down the corridor and Kyou flung himself through the door, shouting my name. I couldn't see him, but I knew it was him. Thirdly I fell backwards, my tears blinding me as I fell into darkness. As I fell, I heard muffled shouts around me, and a small, furry body fall against my neck. I then allowed the darkness to engulf me, and everything went black.


	12. epilogue

The heart monitor stopped, and Kakuro was gone. Her husband stayed by her side, holding onto hr hand faithfully to the last. He looked at her face; she was smiling and looked almost like she was sleeping. As he studied her face he noticed how few lines she had for her years, it was said that each line was the mark of great sadness in her life. He counted them, there were some for which he knew the reasons of their making, the deeper ones being the time when her father died, some were from losses of friends, smaller ones from minor crisis's such as losing a job. However there were two that he did not know the cause of, one he suspected was from the death of her mother, but the other he would never know. It was the mark of a deep scar from her youth, when she had been hurt more deeply than at any other time of her life.

He sighed and leant back, at ease for the first time in years, yet not at ease. The passing of a loved one is always hard, but at least he knew that she was in a better place. But he then started, for on Kakuro's bed was a small figure, the figure of a small orange cat. This cat looked too as if it had been through hardship, but as if sleeping there on that bed had taken most of it away. He sighed as he thought that the small cat seemed to have more right to that place than even he, and left it purring on the bed.

Both he and the orange cat fell asleep in the hospital room, as outside the window the cherry blossom tree was blooming, a sign of hope and new life, new love.


End file.
